1. Field
The present disclosure relates to a drive force transmission device.
2. Description of the Related Art
An automatic transmission installed in a vehicle or the like includes an oil temperature sensor that detects an oil temperature of a hydraulic oil (lubricant) supplied to a casing of the transmission. In such an automatic transmission equipped with the oil temperature sensor, when an oil surface in the casing is inclined by the centrifugal force generated by a turn of the vehicle, inclination of a road surface, or the like, a detection unit of the oil temperature sensor may be exposed from the oil surface in the casing depending on a position where the oil temperature sensor is attached. Accordingly, there may be a case in which the oil temperature sensor cannot exactly detect the oil temperature.
In order to address this, in the related-art, the oil temperature sensor needs to be disposed at a position where the oil temperature sensor is still dipped in the hydraulic oil even when the hydraulic oil in the casing becomes unevenly distributed due to a left or right turn of the vehicle or the like. Thus, the freedom in the arrangement of the oil temperature sensor is reduced. Furthermore, there are a strainer and other components that are required to be dipped in the hydraulic oil. Thus, the oil temperature sensor is required to be arranged in the casing while allowing the other components to be dipped in the hydraulic fluid.
Japanese Unexamined Patent Application Publications No. 3-041253 and No. 9-145487 describe examples of the related art regarding the above-described problems. In an oil temperature detection device for an automatic transmission described in Japanese Unexamined Patent Application Publication No. 3-041253, an oil temperature sensor that detects the oil temperature of lubricant for an auto transmission is provided in a lubricant reservoir of a transmission housing. A detection unit of the oil temperature sensor is extended to a position near an inlet of an oil strainer of the lubricant reservoir. An automatic transmission described in Japanese Unexamined Patent Application Publication No. 9-145487 is provided with an oil temperature sensor integrated with a strainer.